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Editorial: Voting Rights Act update proposal a sensible revision

Voting rights act 1965.jpg

President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a ceremony in the President's Room near the Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington. Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Surrounding the president from left directly above his right hand, Vice President Hubert Humphrey; House Speaker John McCormack; Rep. Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y.; first daughter Luci Johnson; and Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill. Behind Humphrey is House Majority Leader Carl Albert of Oklahoma; and behind Celler is Sen. Carl Hayden, D-Ariz.
(Associated Press file)

Having the right message at the right moment is never a bad start. Connecting with the voters helps. So too does assembling an organization to help turn them out on Election Day.

Another long-favored technique: working to suppress the vote of those inclined to support the other side.

This method, though, is not one folks generally talk about in polite company.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a response to egregious efforts, mostly in southern states, to keep minority voters from being able to cast ballots. One section of the act required certain states to gain federal permission before making substantive changes to voting policies. It was that section that was struck down last year by the Supreme Court, which found that badly outdated information was being used in applying the act.

The high court’s decision was not, as some apologists would have it, a narrow ruling with little real-world impact. On the contrary, it opened the door to allow for potential abuses.

Now, a bipartisan group in Congress is backing a plan that would require a few states to get permission before making voting changes. It looks at what is happening – today – and requires just four states to obtain federal permission before making voting changes.

Which doesn’t mean that there aren’t detractors.

They should be seen for what they are: folks who’d endeavor to win by keeping the opposition from playing its game.

The original Voting Rights Act, which applied to all or parts of 15 states, was one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation to have been passed by the Congress. It did its job, but it wasn’t a magic wand, opening the doors to all polling places forever and ever.